The Pawcuffs
by BeecroftA
Summary: While out on patrol one night, Judy learns the hard way that coffee and cuffs make a dangerous combination around Nick. Partially inspired by an I Love Lucy episode.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi folks! I've contributed to other works before, Zootopia or otherwise, but this is my first official story! And as all first-time writers say, reviews are always appreciated. There are more great writers who have inspired me on this site than I can keep track of, but there are three who (whom?) I'd especially like to thank: Aninat131, Cimar of Turalis-WildeHopps, and Lupineleigh.**

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"Carrots?"

"Hmm?"

"I want a coffee."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Come on Nick, we've only got one hour of patrol left, and you've already had one coffee tonight! You know you won't be able to sleep a wink if you have another!"

The fox and rabbit team had recently taken on the case of a series of carjackings in the poorer part of Savannah Central, which meant that for the past three nights in a row the pair had been on night patrol, scouting for the thief in an unmarked car and regularly checking on the bait cars placed in the area. So far there had been no bites, and both were becoming increasingly edgy as the constant monotony and feelings of isolation began to sink in.

"Carrots, I'm bored. And when I get bored, I get sleepy. Such is the way of foxes."

"And last I checked, _Officer Wilde_ , foxes are also nocturnal, which made me think you of all mammals would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed while handling this assignment."

"That we are, but after months of handling your 6AM wakeup calls I've fallen out of practice," Nick grumbled irritably. The pair drove on in silence for another minute, before Nick's ears perked up as he noticed a sign:

"Look, there's a Tim Howlton's on the corner there, and I happen to know they're open all night. Can we please just make a stop, Fluff? I'll get you one of those herbal teas you like…"

Judy sighed, knowing from experience that nothing could deter Nick when he craved caffeine. "Okay, fine, there's a parking spot over there-WAIT NICK!"

Before Judy had fully stopped the car or even put on her turn-signal Nick undid his seat belt, pulled out his wallet, opened the door and jumped out of the car for the donut shop all in one quick movement. Judy quickly parked the car and growled in frustration. She hated it when Nick did that, and he did it all too often. One time he had almost stepped on a mouse couple out on the curb, and another time he almost got run over by a giraffe on a bicycle which he only avoided by ducking and rolling. Normally she would suck it up and say nothing or give Nick a reprimand which he would naturally ignore, but her otherwise-intact boredom made her decide that something dramatic was in order… chuckling to herself she started fingering through her tool belt.

A minute later the door to Timmy's eased open, and Nick backed out carrying a hot paper cup in each hand. He turned around and walked back to the car, but Judy wasn't in there. Suddenly he heard a distinct chinking noise coming from somewhere right to the left of him. He tried to turn around but his arm was suddenly stuck in place, causing him to slosh a little of the coffee he was carrying.

" _What the-!?"_

"Hehehehehe!"

Nick looked down: there was Judy, cheerily giggling, and she now had her right paw pawcuffed to his left one.

"Alright dumb fox, Here's how it's going to be! From now on whenever we go on patrol I am cuffing you to me so that you can't get out of the car until I have actually stopped it and put it in park! Now what do you think of that?"

"I think this is false arrest and blatant misuse of police equipment, Officer Bunny," said Nick, grinning for the first time all night. The two looked at each other fondly for a moment, the tension of the evening forgotten, before they simultaneously remembered that they were still on patrol and a pair of handcuffed officers was bound to raise a few eyebrows. "Okay, Carrots, now would you please unlock me? My paws are kind of full here and these drinks are hot…"

"Oh yeah, sorry!" Judy produced her pawcuff key. "Okay, hold still… it's kind of hard to do this left-handed, especially with your paw way up there. Hehe, stop fidgeting-OW!"

As Judy had tugged on Nick's paw trying to get the key in the lock she caused him to accidentally spill his coffee on her own paw, making her reflexively grab it with her other one. The tiny pawcuff key slipped between her fingers, and the pair didn't notice this until they heard three distinct sounds:

 _Tink._

 _Tink._

 _Bloop._

The pawcuff key had bounced off the curb and fallen down a sewer grate.

For a moment, Nick and Judy did nothing but stare blankly at the spot where the key fallen, and then their gazes shifted to their respective paws which were still firmly cuffed together, before Judy timidly spoke up:

"Errr… you've got your key to these, right Nick?"

"My key? Oh yeah, hold on." Nick set the drinks down on the ground and started going through his own tool belt: "Weird, it should be in here…" Nick looked in one pouch on his belt, then another, then another, and then another, finding an assortment of small weapons and paraphernalia and even an old pawpsicle stick, but no pawcuff key. Once he had checked all his pouches he began patting down his pants pockets with one paw, then his shirt pockets, and even in the little pocket on the inside of his tie. Coming up clearly emptyhanded he looked down at Judy with an unusually guilty look on his face:

"I think I left it in my other pair of pants."

"WHAT? How could you… Errgh, never mind, let's just go over to your apartment and look through your other pants..."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"I sent them to the dry cleaners."

Cowering under the incredibly withering look Judy gave him Nick held up his uncuffed paw in self-defence:

"Hey, they'll be open Monday morning, and I'll have you know that the pandas who run the place are _really_ good about returning stuff left in pockets!"

"Yes, but this is Friday night, Nick! You expect us to go around like this until then!?"

"Oh yeah… I forgot what day it was. Well, maybe we can go down to the precinct or call one of the other officers on patrol, borrow one of their keys."

"No, Nick, these are our custom-cuffs, made specially-smaller so we can carry them around! We're the only ones on the force with keys to these!"

She glanced up at Nick hopefully: "I don't suppose you know how to pick a lock, do you?"

"Carrots, I was a hustler, not a thief. I have many talents, but lock-picking is not one of them."

"Oh…" Judy's ears drooped in defeat, but then quickly sprung up again as her eyes brightened. "Oh, of course! What a pair of jugheads we are!"

"What are you talking about, Carrots?"

"Well there _is_ such a thing as a locksmith."

"Of course, a locksmith!" Nick quickly dug out his phone with his free paw and started Zoogling locksmiths in Zootopia.

"Okay, here's one two blocks from where we are," the fox called the number and put the phone to his ear: "Yello? Hey, do you think you could help a fox and a rabbit escape from a pair of handcuffs? …No, we… hello? Hello? Huh, he hung up on me. Apparently he thought we escaped from jail."

"Give me that phone! Okay, here's another one… Hello? Good evening, this is ZPD Officer Judy Hopps, I was wondering if you could free my partner and I from a pair of pawcuffs… Yes, this is the real Judy Hopps… NO, we did not escape from jail!"

Nick just smirked.

After talking to two more locksmiths who thought they had escaped from jail, three that were not in, one who only answered calls in Tundratown and one who claimed to have locked himself out of his house, Judy was forced to conclude that there was no locksmith in Zootopia that would help them that night. By the time she was done talking to the last smith she was so mad she nearly threw the phone to the ground before Nick reminded her it was his.

"Alright, my Siamese bunny-twin, what do we do now?"

Judy shot the fox a dirty look. "Nick, I am so embarrassed right now, I would vastly appreciate it if you would just refrain from speaking for the next few minutes."

"Well so _-rry_ , I'd gladly give you some space but that's _clearly_ not an option right now." Nick retorted, holding up their cuffed paws for emphasis.

"I really don't need your snark right now, Nick!"

"Hey, you're the one who got us into this situation in the first place! If anyone has the right to be snarky around here, it's me!" Nick shot back.

" _I'm_ the one? Listen, if you had just _waited_ until I had parked the car…" but Judy stopped. Nick was right. She was the one who had let her boredom get to her, and she was the one who had stooped to using her police equipment as part of a childish joke. She let out a heavy sigh, her ears drooping again.

"Come on…"

She started to walk back to their car, Nick in tow. She instinctively walked to her side of it before remembering Nick couldn't get in on his, so she let him crawl in first and then followed him, slumping in her seat and thumping her head on the steering wheel. Nick shuffled into his seat, and then a look of realization dawned on his face, and he started to speak up:

"Uh, Carrots…"

"Alright Nick, it looks like we're stuck together for the night, so I guess we'll just have to cut our patrol short, retire to my place, and then go to the nearest locksmith shop and get these off in the morning."

If Judy had been looking directly at Nick while she said that she would have noticed an unusually large twitch in his ears.

"Err… your place, Carrots?"

"Well, I know my apartment isn't exactly nicer than yours, but at least my roof doesn't leak and I've got Wi-Fi. Besides, I'm the one who got us into this mess, so it's the least I can do to be the hostess."

"Well that's true…"

"And, I've got an actual bed. It may be rickety, but it's sure better than that army cot you've got. I'd hate to sleep on that old thing all night."

"Yeah, I guess that is our best option." Nick replied in agreement. Judy nodded her head, and started the car motor.

"Wait, were you about to say something before, Nick?"

"Err… I left our drinks back on the sidewalk." Nick replied sheepishly. Judy groaned and rolled her eyes, but quietly consented to shuffle out of the car, retrieve their drinks and then get back in before instinctively reaching for the gear shift only to find her paw locked into place by Nick's, which was now holding a cup of cold herbal tea.

"Nick!"

"Sorry."

Nick quickly transferred the cup of tea to the cup holder and lightly grabbed hold of Judy's wrist, prepared to move his paw in sync with hers. Accepting it, she shifted gears, pulled out of the spot, and started driving down Bagheera Boulevard towards her building. Once they were safely coasting along, Nick eagerly started guzzling the cup of coffee in his right paw that had caused them so much trouble.

"Nick, our patrol is over, there's really no point in drinking that now."

"Hey, I've never wasted a cup of coffee in my life and I'm not about to start now!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I would like to thank Lupineleigh for being my beta reader, and Blenderguy15, Aninat131, Zanrok, PizzaSteve3902, Emmi-chan, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps and Saforite154 for their respective reviews. And to Aninat131, happy birthday! I've been influenced and inspired by a lot of different stories on this site, but his phenomenal work "Evergreen" has definitely been my biggest influence for this particular story. For the occasion I had an Evergreen piece commissioned by the talented** **Ziegelzeig on deviantart; the link is on my profile.  
**

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But by the time they got to the door of Judy's Grand Pangolin Arms apartment, Nick had realized that then might have been a good time to break his non-coffee wasting streak. In the car ride over he started to get the jitters, which made it difficult for Judy to keep the wheel steady. While trying to parallel-park in front of her building he had accidentally twitched her paw so hard she had driven onto the curb and nearly flattened a rodent-sized fire hydrant. Needless to say she was rather ticked with him right now, so for the moment he deemed it prudent to walk on eggshells around her. Normally he was never short on quips about her room's small size, crazy neighbors and lack of private bathroom, but tonight he would keep those to himself.

"So, uh, what should we do tonight, Carrots?"

"Um, 'do tonight', Nick? I was under the impression we were just going to go right to bed."

"Well, we've got the whole night ahead of us, so I figured, you know, maybe we could hang out, watch a movie, play cards…"

"Nick, it's 2 in the morning, and this isn't a slumber party. I get that you're caffeinated, but I did tell you not to drink that second coffee, so you're just going to have to tough it out."

"Oh, I know! We can go over the case again!"

"What more is there to talk about? The car thief steals older vehicles of small to medium size, operates between the hours of 10 PM and 7 AM, and must have some kind of specialized equipment because we've never found glass at any of the scenes. This happens in low-traffic areas, so there's never any camera footage to be found. Until further notice, that's all we know."

"Hey, maybe we could finally play Bunn-opoly; you've been asking me to play you for ages…"

"IT'S 2 AM, NICK! LET'S JUST GET TO BED ALREADY!"

" _Hey bunny-cop! You and your boyfriend keep it down; we're trying to sleep in here!"_

Judy snapped at her neighbors behind the wall: "Guys, he's not my boyfriend, and he's been here enough times that you should KNOW that by now!"

" _Then why do you two sound like you're having a sleepover!?"_

"'Sleepover'? This isn't a - didn't you just hear me say…ERRGH, never mind!"

Nick just stood by quietly for a minute, opting to give Judy a little time to calm down before speaking up again:

"So, um, should we just head to bed then, Carrots?"

"Nothing I'd like better, Nick."

"Okay, so… how do you want to do this?"

"Well, unless you want me to get the scissors it looks like we'll have to sleep in our uniforms all night, but let's at least take our duty belts off." Both instinctively reached for their own belt buckles, and simultaneously pulled on each other's cuffed arms. Then without thinking both tried again, and tugged each other yet again. They then compromised by awkwardly standing face-to-face and undoing each other's' belts, and then without speaking both removed their police badges and set them on Judy's desk, along with their respective wallets and phones. Then as a finishing touch Nick loosened his tie, pulled it over his head and laid it on Judy's chair, the knot still in place. Judy rolled her eyes.

"Now, Nick, which do you prefer to sleep on - your stomach or your back? It doesn't matter to me."

"Errr, stomach."

"Alright, then we'll crawl onto the bed from the end, like this, and sleep on our stomachs for the night."

The pair clumsily crawled up onto the rickety bed, the springs inside creaking loudly. Judy had been right in assuming that there was room on it for the both of them, but she had also underestimated how much more space Nick himself took up, for when they laid down they found themselves with barely six inches of space between them, their muzzles practically touching. Judy immediately sprang back up, making Nick let out a yelp as she pulled on his cuffed arm while doing so. "Okay, there's less space than I thought; we may need to set up some kind of boundary."

"'Boundary'? Carrots, I can assure you I'm not going to try and devour you in your sleep. I am a gentlefox you know."

"Humor me, please," Judy put her free paw to her chin and thought for a moment: "Okay, I can't believe I'm considering this… Nick, reach over the side and open the middle drawer under the bed, and bring out what's inside."

Nick acquiesced, but the moment he saw the contents of the drawer he turned back to Judy with a delighted grin on his face.

"Stuffed rabbits? Carrots, surely you jest."

"Not a word pal, just bring them up here."

One-by-one Nick fished Judy's well-worn and well-snuggled stuffed rabbits out of the drawer, unable to resist commenting on each one as he went along:

"What's this one's name?

Ooh, isn't this a Jack Savage doll?

Hey, this one's shaped like a fox!

Aww, this one says Junior ZPD Officer, that's so _cute!_

What? Am I not even allowed to call a stuffed rabbit cute?"

Once he was done, Nick pushed himself back onto the bed and immediately saw Judy's handiwork: she had taken all of her dolls and plushies and lined them in a row straight down the middle of the bed, forming a cute and fluffy wall between herself and Nick.

"Alright Slick," Judy said, pointing to the row, "This is a border, and these guys are the guards. Nothing except your cuffed paw is permitted on my side. So unless your tail has a passport, I ask you to move it before I'm forced to have it deported."

"I don't suppose I could apply it for a visitor's visa...?" Nick jokingly queried. But Judy shook her head no and he complied, and tried to relax and make himself comfortable. But there was still lingering caffeine in his system, and while he could keep his arms and legs still there was still one appendage he could never fully control when he was caffeinated: his tail.

His fluffy russet tail suddenly sprang to life, involuntarily swishing back and forth and wagging up and down on the bed with soft thumps. Nick tried to relax and act casual, but from the way Judy's ears were twitching with each thump she was clearly noticing his tail's movements. Suddenly his tail flicked over the border between them and landed an inch from Judy's feet, the stray hairs from it threatening to tickle. Nick quickly moved his tail back, but two wags later it rolled onto Judy's side again, and this time it really did tickle her feet, making the rabbit yelp and instinctively jerk them away.

"Cut it out, Nick!"

"I'm sorry Carrots, but when I can't sleep my tail gets a mind of its own!"

"Well, at least turn on your side, so it stays away from me!"

"Fine!"

"Nick obeyed, turning on his right side facing Judy, but his tail remained noncompliant. It kept thumping and thumping away; against the mattress, against Nick's legs, even against the floor. Nick tried to fight it and Judy tried to ignore it, but it was a losing battle. The breaking point finally came when the tip of the tail caught in the back of Judy's desk chair and pulled, causing the chair to fall over with a loud crash.

"Alright, THAT'S IT!"

Judy leaned over the stuffed-bunny border and with an almighty shove pushed Nick off the bed, sending the fox tumbling to the floor and missing the fallen desk chair by an inch. His left paw, still cuffed to Judy, was left hanging over the edge of the bed while the rest of him laid in a heap on the hardwood floor, his nose pressing into the drawer under her bed.

"If you can't keep your tail still, Nick, I'll just have to deport it from the bed and you along with it! Good-NIGHT!"

"Come on Carrots, let me up! I'll keep my tail under control, I promise!"

All Nick got in response was a loud, fake snore from Judy. He sighed, shivered, and tried to get comfortable again while his tail thumped freely behind him.

Roughly half an hour later Nick's tail final stopped twitching, and he decided to try again. "Carrots?"

No answer.

"I think the caffeine has worn off by now. Really, you can let me back up now."

"Nothing doing, pal."

"But _Carrooots_ , you've got no rug, and this is a hardwood floor! Come on, it's cold and _very_ uncomfortable down here!"

He looked up straight into her face, making his green eyes look as wide and weepy as possible. " _Pweeease?_ "

" _Come on, bunny-cop, give him another chance!_ " hollered the neighbors.

Judy sighed. "Fine, get up here." She shuffled backwards as Nick joyfully scrambled back onto the bed.

"Just _please_ keep your tail on your side, okay?"

"Way ahead of you, Carrots. I shall sleep like this…" Nick curled up on his side again and wrapped his legs and free arm around his tail, immobilizing it. "Satisfied?"

"Very," Judy replied, unable to stifle a small smile as she noticed just how endearing Nick looked with the tip of his tail covering his nose, "Goodnight Nick."

"Good night… Judy."

And with that, the pawcuffed pair finally drifted off into sleep.

* * *

A few hours later, Nick found himself jarred awake as something bumped his leg. He shook it off and tried to go back to sleep, but the same something hit him again. Fully roused now Nick looked down to see that one of Judy's grey feet was thumping in her sleep, breaking the bunny-barrier and kicking him. He let out a great wide yawn and glanced towards Judy's face, and a beautiful sight met his eyes: despite her cuffed paw Judy had managed to grab one of her plushies in her sleep and was now snuggling with it. And not just any one: it was the fox doll. If Nick could reach his phone (and was not trying to stay in Judy's good graces), he would have gladly taken a picture of the sight. Nick released his tail and tried to stretch, only to be forcibly reminded that one of his paws was still connected to Judy's. There was now a defined indentation in the fur on his wrist where the cuff sat, and looking down his slept-in uniform looked more rumpled and wrinkled than his oldest Pawaiian shirt. Judy's foot lightly kicked Nick again, and he idly wondered how the bunny border's deportation laws applied if the transgressor was asleep.

Suddenly a familiar awareness came over him, followed immediately by a certain longing spreading through his nether regions, growing more and more powerful. Nick tried to relax and ignore it, but he knew he had to deal with it and soon. He shifted and fidgeted anxiously for a few minutes, but the sensation got worse by the second, and soon he could stand it no longer. He had to act. He had to tell Judy; she had to be feeling it by now too…

He started rapidly shaking Judy's shoulder with his free paw. "Ummm, Carrots?"

Judy awoke with a yawn that Nick would have found much more adorable if it weren't for his current state. " _Yaawwn…_ Yea' Nick?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Alright, I would like to thank Zanrok, BlenderGuy 15, PizzaSteve3902, gonekrazy3000, Guest, Emmi-chan, Thomas Linguist (yep, I be Canadian), DrummerMax64, Aninat131 (congratulations on finishing your exams), Omnitrix12 and Cimar of Turalis-WildeHopps (congrats on completing One Hundred Kisses) for their respective reviews. And to those who newly followed and favorited this story, I thank you as well; the reception has honestly been better than I ever imagined, but then I'm a humble guy.**

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"Urrgh…" Judy moaned, rubbing her temples. "You have to _what_ now?"

"Do I really need to spell it out? I have to _pee!"_

"Ohhh…" Judy let go of the fox doll and buried her head under her pillow. "Can't you just hold it in a little longer? I'm really tired here…"

" _NO_ , unless you want burst fox all over your walls!"

"I did tell you not to drink that coffee last night."

"Yeah, yeah, you've made that point! Countless times! Now come _on_ , this is an emergency!"

" _Zzz_ …" Judy had gone back to sleep. Certain she was just faking it again Nick leaned over the stuffed bunny border and whispered directly into her ear:

"Leaky faucets. Splashing waves. Babbling brooks. Spraying fountains. Dripping pipes: drip, drip, drip, drip…"

Judy tried to swat his muzzle away with her cuffed paw, but the damage was done; now she had to go too. She sat up, glaring at him:

"Way to play dirty, slick. Alright, let's figure out how we're going to do this…"

"Umm, no; I vote we let me go first, and _then_ we figure it out! Come on!" Nick started to tug her off the bed with his cuffed arm, scattering her stuffed rabbits..

 _Tong tongtongtongtong tong!_

The musical sound of a xylophone suddenly went off, making them both jump: _Judy's phone was ringing!_ Judy scrambled off the bed (pulling Nick along with her), hopped over her previously-overturned chair and snatched her phone up, paling under her fur when she saw the screen:

"Oh _no_ , it's my parents!"

"Your _PARENTS_ \- it's six-thirty!"

"I'm a bunny who grew up on a farm! We always get up and talk this early!"

"Well, let it go to voicemail and tell 'em you slept through it! Come on Carrots, I really gotta go!"

"Right, okay-WOAH!"

In his haste to get to the door Nick yanked on Judy's cuffed paw, making her drop the phone. It clattered face-down onto her desk, and they both froze in horror when a voice came out of it:

"Judy? Honey, are you there?"

Judy's eyes bulged. "It's my mom! I have to answer now!" She shuffled Nick over to the side of the desk where he would be out of view: "Just stand here, hold it in, and be quiet! I'll make this fast as I can!" In a one-handed blur she stood up the chair, sat down and picked up the phone. " _Hiii_ , Mom!"

"Oh, there you are! Hi Judy!" said Bonnie Hopps.

"Hey, Jude the dude!" called Stu Hopps from off-camera.

" _Jude-the-dude?"_ mouthed Nick beside Judy, a grin starting on his face. She ignored it.

"So, umm, how have you guys been lately? Judy spluttered, "Good? Great? Excellent! Well, don't let me keep you…"

"Judy! Dear, are you alright? You seem a little… jittery."

"Err, uh, well…" Judy stammered, looking side-to-side, "You see, Mom, the truth is…" She glanced towards Nick and then looked down and mumbled, acting like a kit caught in wrongdoing: "I kind of had coffee last night."

" _Coffee?!_ Oh dear, you know caffeine isn't good for rabbits! With all the possible side effects, being up all night would be the least of your worries!"

"Yeah, I know, Mom. You see, Nick and I have been doing these night patrols trying to catch a car thief, and the late hours have been really wearing me down sooo… last night I broke down and drank a cup of real coffee. It still hasn't worn off, so I've just been here climbing the walls since my shift ended."

"Ohh, I see. I'm sorry dear; I wouldn't have called if I'd known you were working a night shift. I wondering why you looked like you had slept in your uniform."

Judy looked down at herself: her normally pristine uniform did indeed look slept-in; it now looked more creased and wrinkled than Nick's oldest Pawaiian shirt, and that was saying something. Mrs. Hopps suddenly started giggling.

"Hehehe, oh Judy, you remember that time when you were in kindergarten and had that sip of Red Bull on a dare?"

"Haha, yeah, that's a great story, mom! Well, don't let me keep you…"

"I'll never forget that phone call I got from your kindergarten teacher: my little Judy, caught dancing in circles around the schoolyard completely naked and whooping at the top of her lungs…"

Judy suddenly felt her right paw twitching. She glanced over to her right and saw Nick, his right paw clutching his muzzle with the rest of his body positively shaking with suppressed laughter at Mrs. Hopps' story. Judy had a sneaking suspicion that once they were out of this mess, he would never let her hear the end of it. A little revenge seemed in order…

"You know, mom… I've got quite a few vacation hours saved up, so I've been thinking of taking a little trip sometime; tell me about that place you and dad went for your honeymoon, you know…" She shot a discreet smirk in Nick's direction, "…Bunnagara Falls."

Nick immediately stopped giggling, and started waving frantically with his free paw to signal Judy to stop talking and hang up. Judy naturally ignored it.

"Oh Judy, it was the most beautiful place! Swimming in the ponds, rafting on the river, and the falls… your father and I never _saw_ so much water! Those waterfalls must have hundreds of gallons flowing per minute! Gushing and crashing and splashing…"

Nick started doing a bathroom dance where he stood, hopping from one foot to another with his thighs firmly pressed together and his free paw clutching his nether regions, letting out tiny little whimpers under his breath; it was all Judy could do to keep herself from laughing, and her cuffed arm from moving around.

"Well Mom, that does sound nice, but maybe I shouldn't be taking a vacation too soon; I don't think Nick can get along without me just yet."

Nick paused for a second to shoot her a glare, then immediately resumed dancing.

"Of course, dear; how _is_ Nick, by the way? The way you go on about him every time we chat, your father and I are most anxious to meet him!"

"Oh, he's great, mom," Judy quickly replied, "We're, uh, working _very_ closely nowadays."

Beside her, Nick let out a snort at the irony of that statement, still dancing around.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Mrs. Hopps.

Judy started. "Um, uh, what's what, Mom?"

"I think I just saw something brown move behind you…"

Judy's head whipped around: as Nick was doing his dancing around his tail had wandered into her phone's line of vision. Quick as a flash he grabbed his tail out of the way and Judy tilted her further phone further away from Nick.

"Huh, I didn't see anything, Mom…"

"That's strange, I could have sworn I saw something; it looked like a tail, or a-"

CRASH! Mrs. Hopps was suddenly interrupted by a loud smashing noise in the background behind her, along with the sound of spilled liquid and chattering kits. Mrs. Hopps turned her head to the scene beside her:

"KIDS! What- _ohh_ …"

She turned back to Judy: "I'm sorry Judy, I've got to go: your little brother Billy just dropped the jug of apple juice. Love you!"

 _Apple juice?!_ That mental image nearly pushed Nick over the edge.

"Love you too Mom, okayseeyoulaterbye!" Judy quickly hung up, and slumped in her chair in relief.

"Ohhh, bless little Billy…WOAH!"

Without a hint of warning Judy found herself in the air as Nick scooped her up, slammed open the door and zoomed down the hall to the communal bathrooms. Without giving the bunny a second to object he barreled into the male's room, the door closing behind them with a loud creak.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the bedraggled, subdued and still-manacled pair stumbled out of the building, in the direction of their car and then to the nearest locksmith they could find. There was nobody around since it was early on a Saturday, but there was still a haunted look in Judy's eyes that had little to do with fear of being seen cuffed together in public. And after what they had just experienced Nick wasn't surprised. Once again they got into the car via the driver's door, where Nick got in first and scooted over to his seat while Judy followed him (a little awkwardly, since they were still half-parked on the curb from the previous night). Once seated, she got out her phone and started Zoogling local locksmiths for the second time in five hours. Nick glanced at Judy: at a distance she looked okay besides the wrinkly state of her uniform, but if one looked closely a red welt could be seen through the fur in the middle of her forehead. Thankfully, it didn't look near as bad as the one forming on his left arm; that was going to leave a bruise for sure. He awkwardly coughed and cleared his throat:

"So, about what happened back there…"

"Nick, we agreed we're not talking about that."

"You know I didn't plan any of that…"

"We're not talking about it."

"Especially that thing with your neighbors…"

"We're especially not talking about that."

"And I am sorry about, you know…"

"I forgive you, that was my fault too."

"Okay, good, fine."

Nick let a yawn, stretched and then bent down to scratch an itch on his ankle, and then suddenly his eyes widened, and his ears shot straight up. "Umm, Carrots…"

" _OH, FOR_ … Nick, we vowed never to mention that incident again, so we're not talking about it!" Judy snapped. Nick jerked back in shock; were all bunnies this scary when they were tense? He spoke up:

"Umm, technically you vowed, I just stood there in silence."

"Well, then I would really, _very_ much appreciate it if you would keep up said silence for a while."

"Fine, as you wish…"

Nick kept quiet as Judy finished her search, started the car and pulled off the curb. But as they started down the street he couldn't resist asking: "'Jude-the-Dude'?"

"GRRR!" responded Judy.

* * *

 **Another A/N: For those who are wondering what transpired in the bathroom, I shall release that little predicament as a bonus chapter after the rest are done – if I get enough requests. In the meantime, feel free to speculate on might have happened, for I love theories.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Per my usual forward, I'd like to thank PizzaSteve3902, BlenderGuy15, gonekrazy3000, Canadians Rock (yes they do!), Matri, dubsaloon, Yozia, Guest, Thomas Linguist, Fluff, Guest, Gamer4COD, Omnitrix 12, RemyWinchester, stevegallacci, DrummerMax64, Aninat131, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, ChaoticImp and ebolson for their respective reviews, and all my new followers as well!**

* * *

After a few minutes of three-pawed driving through the backstreets of Savannah Central (which they were admittedly getting better at), Nick and Judy pulled over and parked in front of the closest locksmith shop to Judy's apartment. It was in an old brick building two stories high, in a neighborhood that had clearly seen better days. But thankfully, said neighborhood clearly didn't get much traffic (only one small car sat in the parking lot across the street), so they were less likely to be seen, and the sign in the window read OPEN. Judy just hoped the name of the business wasn't a misnomer, because she was quite eager to be out of their cuffs as soon as possible:

 _Fast & Fur-rious Locksmith Services - M. Marmotini, Prop. _

_Established…_

The date at the end was far back enough to make Nick let out a long whistle.

"You sure this place will work, Carrots? Because it sounds like the owner might be old enough to have taken lessons from Harry Houndini himself."

"Beggars can't be choosers, Nick. Besides, maybe it's a family business and we're dealing with the son or something."

She suddenly yawned, and rubbed her eyes with the thumb and forefinger with her free paw. "Boy, I'm tired. After this is over I _really_ hope we catch that car thief soon, because these night patrols are really getting me down."

The pair quickly glanced side-to-side to make sure there was no one around, and then shuffled out of the car and walked into the shop, the door jingling a little bell as they opened it. The place looked respectable enough, with a large selection of different-sized locks for sale on the wall to their right and an assortment of safes, tools and accessories for sale on their left. An old-fashioned cash register and a large keycutting machine sat behind the front counter, and a collection of ancient padlocks and latchkeys lined the back wall around the door to what Judy assumed was the backroom, from where seemed to be coming a dull repetitive thunking noise like vegetables being chopped. The pair walked up to the counter.

"Hello?" Judy rang the bell on the countertop. Anybody here?"

The thunking noise stopped, then shuffling footsteps could be heard approaching, and suddenly a large bloody carving knife flashed from behind the door, making Nick and Judy both jump with fright as the marmot carrying it entered the room.

"Oh! Sorry about that, I was just-a chopping some worms for breakfast."

Before Nick and Judy stood a short, plump and clearly very old Alpine marmot, clad in a bathrobe and slippers. His ruffled grey fur might have once been brown, he wore a heavy pair of spectacles over his beady brown eyes, and he spoke with an accent Judy supposed was Itailian. Looking into the backroom behind him Nick and Judy could make out a hallway that led into a small kitchen; clearly the marmot lived here too and didn't get too many walk-in customers.

The old marmot put the knife down and introduced himself: "Marty Marmotini, at your service. Now what can I do for you-" and then his eyes widened with recognition.

"Hey, I know you!" He shuffled over to look at Nick and Judy more closely, "You're the officers Hopps and Wilde! My little granddaughter, she be a very big fan of you two!"

"Why thanks, that's very nice…" said Judy.

"Or is it my great-granddaughter? I can never remember."

"Look, could you please just…"

"Could she have your autograph, please?" Without waiting for an answer Mr. Marmotini whipped out a piece of paper and a pen and proffered it to Nick and Judy.

"Oh, well, we would love to sir, but see, our writing paws are kind of stuck together here…" Judy lifted up her and Nick's cuffed paws and placed them on the counter for the marmot to see.

"Hmm. Alright, let's-a see what we're dealing with…" Mr. Marmotini removed his regular spectacles and put on a special pair with a set of magnifying lenses attached, and looked in closely to examine the cuffs.

"Ooh, never seen pawcuffs like these before – they must be a new brand!"

Nick and Judy were a little dumbfounded; the fact that they were pawcuffed together for no apparent reason didn't even seem to register with this old marmot.

"Why yes, they were kind of custom-made for us, smallest cops on the force and all that…"

"Well, it'll take me a little time to find the right pick, hold on…"

The elderly marmot heaved a red toolbox from under the counter, pulled out a set of lockpicks, and started meticulously fingering through each one until he found a particular pick that looked like it had a tiny saw at the end.

"Okaayy… is it this one?"

He stuck the end of the pick in the lock on Judy's cuff and jiggled for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

"Nope. Maybe it's this one?"

He picked a pick with a wider head and tried it, but it was too big to fit in the lock.

"Okay, this-a may be more difficult than I thought. Perhaps it's this one…"

But several minutes and over a dozen picks later Judy was starting to look distinctly irritated while struggling to maintain a pleasant exterior (a look that Nick had come to call her 'DMV face'), so the fox decided to lighten the mood:

"You know, Marty… last night when we got into this mess and started calling up every locksmith in town, there was this one funny guy we called, claimed to have locked himself out of his house. How's that for irony when you're a locksmith huh? It… couldn't have been you, could it?"

Mr. Marmotini chuckled, showing off his long buck teeth, and then a look of comprehension dawned on his face. "Ohhh, you must be talking about my cousin!"

Nick and Judy's jaws dropped in sync. _There were more of them?_ "Your… _cousin?_ "

"Sì! Me, my little brother and my cousin, we all come over from Itaily many years ago and opened our own locksmith shops around Zootopia! I open shop here in Savannah, my brother in Canal District and my cousin out in Tundratown. My brother retired, moved out to Vancougar Island three years ago. My cousin, he still in business. He was-a very good back in his day, but now he's a little, how do you say…" Mr. Marmotini twirled his finger around his tiny ear, "'Coo-coo'."

Nick and Judy said nothing to that, so the marmot continued:

"He call me about one-thirty last night, telling me he was locked out of his house and he couldn't get himself in because he'd locked his kit pick inside too! I go out to help him, and you must-a been calling me while I was out! Too bad I wasn't in then; I would have come and helped you in a Zootopia minute."

Mr. Marmotini finished testing his last pick on the cuffs (with just as much success as before) and put it back on the ring.

"Okay, that's-a my last pick that might-a fit. So sorry."

"WHAT?!" Judy cried out in exasperation, "You mean to say that you don't have _one_ pick in this whole place that can get these cuffs off?"

"I'm-a sorry! I haven't picked a set of pawcuffs in years, and these modern ones are almost impossible to unlock without the key!"

Nick looked distinctly uncomfortable as the marmot said this.

"Well, we don't have a key, so don't you have anything else that could work?" the rabbit pleaded.

"Umm…" the marmot scratched his head, "I do have some bolt cutters. If you'd-a like I could just cut those off."

Judy gave a start. "Well, why didn't you just mention those in the first place?"

"Those-a cuffs looked expensive; I didn't think you'd-a want them damaged."

"Trust me, we couldn't care less about that right now! Cut them off, please!"

"Alright, hold on and I'll go get them."

The old marmot left the room and started shuffling down the hallway behind the door to look for the cutters. Judy turned to Nick, and pointed a finger at him:

"If you even think about telling him that camel joke, I will kill you."

* * *

Outside, in the parking lot across the street, an old tow truck parked in front of the only car in the lot: a 1990's Hogda Accorn with the logo _Fast & Fur-rious Locksmith Services_ on the side. The driver quickly got out, glanced around suspiciously as if afraid someone might see him, and then lowered a large hook from the boom on the back of the truck and hooked it under the Accorn's front bumper. The driver then got back in, turned the winch on, and started to lift the front of the car up off the ground.

* * *

"Alright, here it is…" Mr. Marmotini waddled back into the room, brandishing a heavy red bolt cutter in his paws. Then he looked out into the street, and his dark eyes widened.

"Hey, that's-a my car! They're towing my car!"

Nick and Judy's heads turned simultaneously, and they saw the scene. Judy's own eyes narrowed.

"That's strange, that's not a towing zone..."

Without pausing Judy marched out of the shop and strutted towards the truck, Nick still attached to her.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait, everybody! Originally this chapter was going to be longer, but then I got enough material that I decided to just split it in two. Don't worry, the next chapter is mostly written already, and there's quite a bit of action in it!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'd like to thank PizzaSteve3902, dubsaloon, Omnitrix 12, Fox in the hen house, Matri, Blenderguy15, Master Merc Black and Red, DrummerMax64, Guest, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, Padawan A. Kenobi and Aninat131 for their reviews!**

* * *

 _A few minutes ago…_

An old, rusting, medium-sized tow truck rattled down the street. This shouldn't have been unusual, except that this particular truck drove slowly and weaved around from one street to another, as if it had no particular destination. Also, the logo on the side was that of a towing company that had gone out of business half a year before, and if anyone ran the license plate, they would have found that it belonged to a Purrius that had been involved in a T-bone collision months ago and since been written off by the insurance company.

Spying a lone car in the parking lot nearby the driver decided to pull over. Normally he wouldn't have gone for it since it was past daybreak now, but over the past two days he'd started noticing what he was sure were ZPD bait cars around the area (purses were left on the seats or keys were just conveniently still in the ignition), so he was being extra-cautious, but that unfortunately had been cutting into his quota. He noticed a slightly nicer car in front of the old locksmith shop nearby and considered going for it, but that was more risky. In the lot out here, if the owner did spot him and come running out he had a far better chance of getting away. Not that anyone had spotted him so far…

Grinning to himself the driver got out, and started scouting the area like usual. Once he determined there was no one around he got back in, turned on the winching mechanism and started to raise the car behind him. Deciding that a little music was in order he reached into the glove box, pulled out an old iPawd, and was just starting to go through his songlist when he suddenly felt a pricking sensation like a needle on the side of his neck.

" _Freeze_ , Weselton!"

Duke stiffened, and held up his paws - he knew that voice all too well: "That's Weaselton, Officer Flopsy." He looked to his side, and there at the window was indeed the oh-so-cute face of his least-favorite bunny cop, accompanied by an arm holding a dart gun that was currently poking into the side of his neck. "Boy, you're just my personal bad penny, aintcha?"

"That's Officer Hopps to you. Now, this is an interesting setup here: where did you get this tow truck, and who are you trying to steal this car for, Weaselton?"

Weaselton crossed his arms defiantly. "I got the right to remain silent, so I think I'll use it."

"I'd answer her if I were you, Duke. She's really not having the best morning."

Nick stepped into the weasel's view, and Weaselton's maroon eyes widened as he recognized the fox.

"Wilde! Hey, how ya been? I heard on the news you became a cop, but I never believed it!"

"Let's not beat around the bush, Duke. Now, like she said: why are you trying to tow this car?"

The weasel fumbled for a second, and then offered: "Would you believe I got a real job and am trying to make an honest living?"

"Oh we'd both love to," Nick replied, "except that this isn't a towing zone, that car you're hooked to clearly isn't damaged or abandoned, and I couldn't help but notice the license plates on your truck expired over a month ago."

Judy prodded her dart gun further into Weaselton's neck. "Now come on, step out of the truck. You're under arrest."

"Yeah, yeah, just don't stick me in a doughnut this time…"

But the second Duke opened the door and got a proper look at the two, he finally noticed Nick and Judy's state: both their uniforms were rumpled like they had been slept in, and somehow they seemed to have gotten pawcuffed together. A sinister grin spread across the weasel's face. "Although, given this situation that might be your only option, eh?"

Quick as a flash he swung the door at Nick and Judy, making them instinctively stumble back and fall to the ground, and before they could react he bounded right over their heads and took off running across the lot.

"Stop right there!" Judy fired off a dart at the weasel's back, but he easily dodged it. Quickly realizing she had no time to reload Judy grabbed Nick by his cuffed paw and hoisted the fox up. "Come on Nick!" And she took off after Weaselton like a shot, the fox scrambling just to keep up with her.

"Carrots, _hold on-_ "Judy ignored him and pulled out her police radio.

"Officer Hopps to dispatch! Code 10-91, Officer Wilde and I are in pursuit! Suspect is a brown weasel wearing a blue jumpsuit, on foot, heading west on Zabenya Circle! Send back-up!"

"On the way, Judy!" Crackled the voice of their favorite cheetah over the radio. "Wait, isn't this your day off?"

"NOW, Clawhauser!"

"Yeah, yeah, on it!"

" _CARROTS, WOULD-YOU-JUST-WAIT-A-MINUTE-"Nick_ panted as he tried to slow them down.

"No time to dilly-dally, Nick!" called Judy, pocketing her radio and tugging the hapless fox onward.

" _But I've got-_ WOAH! _"_ Nick was interrupted as the two leapt over a sandwich shop sign and then sharply turned a corner in pursuit of the weasel.

"I'm sure it can wait! Now come on, Weaselton's getting away!"

Just then, a loud siren was heard as a gigantic police cruiser zoomed around the corner up ahead and headed straight for them; their backup had arrived. The driver hit the brakes as he spotted the weasel scampering down the middle of the road, and Nick and Judy watched Weaselton screech to a halt and make a beeline through an alley to his right, ducking out of the way just in time.

"Through here, Nick!"

Practically dragging Nick behind her Judy burst through the door of a Snarlbucks next to them. "'Scuse us, pardon me, coming through!" Judy called out to bewildered customers as she and Nick barreled through the shop and burst out the back entrance onto Acacia Avenue, where there was considerably more morning traffic. They quickly scanned around and spotted Weaselton again, weaving past cars and bemused pedestrians and making a break for another alley across the street. Spotting a bike rack in his path Judy had a sudden idea. "HALT!" She called out. This had the desired effect: Weaselton turned, spotted them and was distracted enough that he ran straight into the rack and fell over it.

Flashing their badges to stop incoming traffic Nick and Judy sped towards their quarry, but the wiry weasel recovered quickly. Shaking the stars from his head Duke got up, made a sharp right and started scurrying on all fours up the street, the still-manacled fox and rabbit now only metres behind him. Noticing he was starting to run out of breath, the weasel quickly formed a plan: trip them up somehow, and then head for another alley up ahead where if he remembered right there was a path that led straight to the nearest subway entrance. There was a lamppost up ahead, he had an idea…

"He's slowing down, Nick! We're gaining on him!" Judy called out. Up ahead, the weasel was slowing down, panting. The pawcuffed pair put on an extra burst of speed, getting closer and closer to their target, but in their haste failed to notice the lamppost the weasel was steering them towards. Without thinking they ran past opposite sides of the pole, and the chain cuffing them together hooked on the post and locked their paws behind them, and just before the two realized what they had done, their momentum made them both swing to the side and slam into each other.

"Ha ha _HA_ , so long, Coppers!" Weaselton zoomed up ahead of the dazed cops, turned, and without looking headed up the alley between two large mammal-sized apartment buildings. _"Oof!"_

He was suddenly blocked and flung backwards: he had run straight into a brick wall. He was in the wrong alley; this was a blind one, with nothing in it but a faded Gazelle poster and a couple of garbage cans. Frantically Duke scrambled around the alley looking for another way out, but there was no door, no windows… the fire escape! He tried jumping for it, but it was too high, even when he tried jumping off the garbage cans. This building was designed for lions and tigers and bears, not little weasels. There had to be something…

There! On the ground – a mammalhole cover! He grabbed at the handle and yanked, and yanked… but couldn't budge it more than a couple inches. The thing had to weigh a hundred pounds, and he was a forty-pound weasel. If he ever managed to get out of this he was going to march straight down to city hall and have a word with the city's officials about its scaling system. As soon as the heat was off for trying to steal (tow!) that car.

He could hear footsteps and heavy breathing now - Flopsy and Wilde were close! He had to think of something _FAST…_

* * *

Nick and Judy burst into the alley and froze: Weaselton was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go, Nick? Where is he!?"

"*Pant* No *pant* idea, *huff* Carrots."

"We definitely didn't see him leave this alley, so he must have gotten out another way; you see anywhere he could have gone?"

"Well, there's a fire escape up there," Nick pointed out, "He may have found a way to climb up that."

"I doubt it; that's pretty high up, even for you," Judy replied. She then spotted the mammalhole at her feet and bent down to inspect it, tugging Nick's cuffed paw with her. She lifted up the lid with her free paw and looked down:

" _Phew_ , it stinks down there! I don't think he went down there; I can't hear him running or anything."

Taking only a second to marvel at the extent of Judy's strength Nick put his two cents in: "Ever see _The Third Mammal_ , Carrots? There are still about a hundred places a guy like Duke could hide in the sewers."

"Yeah, but I also don't think he could have lifted this lid all the way," Judy let the mammalhole cover go and it fell back into place with a loud crash.

"Well, he is pretty wiry; and he only would've needed to lift it a few inches."

"Maybe."

Nick eyed the faded Gazelle poster at the end of the alley. "Or maybe he escaped through a hole behind that poster, like in _the Sheepshank Redemption_?"

"You watch too many movies, Nick," Judy glanced over at the pair of garbage cans nearby, and one of her large ears suddenly shot up. _"Hmm…"_

She turned around and started to walk Nick away, and then suddenly spoke up in a raised voice:

"You're right, Nick, he must have gone down the mammalhole. I bet _WOOZLETON_ is probably a mile away by now…"

The weasel's head suddenly popped out of the garbage can in a fury, sending a spray of garbage everywhere.

"THAT'S WEASELTON! _THAT'S_ …oh."

Realizing he'd just given himself away the weasel jumped out of the can and tried to make a final desperate getaway, but Nick and Judy hooked him by the midsection with their cuffed paws and sent him tumbling to the ground with a thud. And before Weaselton could so much as struggle, Judy produced a pair of plastic zipties from her belt and strapped his wrists and ankles together while Nick pinned him down with his knee.

"C'mon, the ankles, Flopsy!?"

"We'll cut them off in a minute; this is just to keep you from running away again."

They stood Weaselton upright and Judy looked him directly in the eye:

"Now, as I was saying before, there's no way you could have set that whole tow truck operation up yourself. And the circumstances perfectly match the M.O. of a car thief we've been trying to catch for the past week. Between that, us as witnesses and you suspiciously trying to run away, you could go away for a long time. So talk: who's backing you, Weaselton?"

Unable to cross his arms, Duke just crossed his front paws and gave her the stink-eye:

"Whaddaya think I am, dumb or somethin'? I know how this works – you cops gotta have hard evidence, and all you got on me is me tryin' to tow one car! And for all you know I was just runnin' away from you two 'cause you've harassed me in the past! So go on, arrest me; I'll just get community service or somethin'!"

Judy growled, ready to go into full bad-cop mode, when Nick tapped his free paw on her shoulder.

"Carrots, I think I just remembered something. You've got a list of the stolen cars and their owners on your phone, right? May I see it please?"

Puzzled, Judy nodded, and handed him her phone. Nick unlocked the phone without even asking the password (Judy made a mental note to question him about that later), and started to scroll as if looking through a list:

"Now, I see a dozen vehicles stolen this past week: ten ranging from to otter to wolf-sized, and two rodent-sized. I think there was a familiar name in the rodent section…"

He made a dramatic show of thumbing through the list some more, and then smiled. "Ah, yes. One was a Mini Cougar belonging to a rat name of Mr. Templeton, and the other was a Mousedes belonging to a…"

He lowered the phone and looked down at Weaselton with a look of faux-concern:

"…Connie Clawleone, arctic shrew."

The pupils in Weaselton's eyes shrank to the size of pinpricks, and his scrawny body began to tremble.

"Connie Clawleone, now where does that name ring a bell? …Oh yes, the cousin of Fru-Fru Big, and also the niece of Mr. Big himself. _Oooh_ , I'm sure Mr. Big will _not_ be pleased to hear you inconvenienced one of his kin so soon after he oh so generously let you off the hook for almost squashing his beloved and betrothed daughter with a giant doughnut…"

"Okay, okay!" Duke cried out, "Wormwood Motors! Used car lot at the corner of Bedfurd and Bearis! The rat who runs the place has a racket goin' on! I tow cars to him, he repaints 'em, changes the numbers and then resells 'em! I get a cut on every car I bring in! That's it!"

"There, now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Nick handed Judy's phone back to her. "You get all that?"

"Yep." Judy held up her free paw, which now contained a certain carrot pen, in front of Weaselton's nose and played back his own voice to him:

" _I tow cars to him, he repaints 'em, changes the numbers and then resells 'em! I get a cut on every car I bring in!"_

"Probably won't be enough for a conviction, but at least it'll get us a warrant to search Wormwood Motors," Judy noted, pocketing the pen. "Now, Duke Weaselton, you are under arrest for grand theft auto and resisting arrest. You have the right to remain silent-"

Just then, a screeching noise was heard behind them as the backup vehicle they had called pulled over in front of the alleyway. Two large officers got out: Senior Officer McHorn, a rhino, and Rookie Officer Sanders: a young tiger who had attended the academy with Nick and since been partnered with McHorn.

"Sorry it took us so long to get here, Hopps," said the rhino, "After we lost you and Wilde on Zabenya we just kept circling around until we found you."

Sanders' eyes flickered down to the sad state of Nick and Judy's uniforms and the cuffs still binding them together, and a heavy grin spread over his face. "And clearly our eyes were not playing tricks on us before; seriously, what happened to you guys?"

Judy let out a deep and heavy sigh in front of everyone. "Well guys, it's a long story. Maybe someday when we're all at the station and the wi-fi's out and there's not another crook to catch in all of Zootopia, we'll tell you _alll_ about it."

Sanders and McHorn looked to Nick, who just shrugged and scratched his ear with his free paw.

Judy gripped Weaselton by the arm. "But right now, we've got a weasel to book. So if you two would give us a lift to the station, we'd much appreciate it."

Nick suddenly looked a little panicky as she said that. "Umm, Carrots, wouldn't it be a good idea to go back to the locksmith and get these cuffs off first?"

Judy sighed again.

"You know how it works, Nick. As both witnesses and the arresting officers we've got to go down to the station and give a statement. And they'll have bolt cutters we can use down there anyway."

"Yeah, but-"

"Besides, probably half of Savannah Central's seen us like this by now, so what's a couple more cops? Clawhauser might have a field day of course, but still."

"Well, that's true. Lead the way."

Sanders hoisted Weaselton up by the armpits and started carrying him back to the cruiser, reciting him his rights along the way. McHorn followed right behind him, with Nick and Judy bringing up the rear. Judy turned to Nick:

"I'm sorry, Nick – were you trying to say something before?"

"Oh, never mind that – it wasn't important."

Judy wasn't so sure of that, but she decided to let it go for the time being.

"I forget – was there really a Connie Clawleone on that list?"

"No idea, I was just reading through your Critter feed when I said that."

Judy elbowed him in the ribs, but couldn't hold back a chuckle at the bluff he'd pulled. _Sly fox._

"I do know Mr. Big has a niece named Connie though. Probably wouldn't have worked anyway – last I heard they're kind of estranged."

* * *

 **Boy, right from the start I knew this chapter was going to be the hardest to write, especially with the chase sequence; I hope it turned out alright, that was my first time writing anything like it. The next chapter should be up soon though, and it's a beauty! In this chapter I made some references to Robin Hood, the Lion King, the Godfather, three other classic movies and even a couple books by Roald Dahl and E.B. White, see if you can spot them all!**


	6. Chapter 6 (modified)

**Finally, the chapter you've all been waiting for! With all that's going on in the world today I think we could all use at least a good laugh, so I really hope this chapter gives you all one! I'd like to thank Aninat131, Fox in the hen house, PizzaSteve3902, Canadians Rock, Omnitrix 12, Gambler Tut, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, Padawan A. Kenobi and DrummerMax64 for their reviews of chapter 5. Oh, and if you'd like to know a good story to try after this one, I'd suggest "Something Stinks" by Omnitrix 12. Not only does it deal with the aftermath of the Night Howler case in a different and interesting way, but in general it is very well-written, with some clever references, compelling OC's, and a plot that just draws you in right away. Definitely recommended!**

* * *

"Come on, what really happened? Did some magic trick go wrong? Did a suspect lock you in your own cuffs when you tried to arrest him? Were you trying to re-enact an episode of _I Love Moocy_?"

"Give it a rest, willya, Tony?" Nick responded.

Officer Sanders had done nothing on the way to the precinct but question Nick and Judy again and again on how they had gotten themselves pawcuffed together. Fortunately it only an eight-minute drive from where they had picked up Weaselton (Nick had kept track) but even so both their nerves were wearing thin. Officer McHorn remained silent as usual, but everyone could tell he was amused too. Judy had eventually broken down and told them a condensed version of how she had cuffed Nick to her as a joke and then lost the key (naturally omitting what had happened between then and catching Weaselton), but for some reason no one seemed to believe it. Even Duke, who was sharing the backseat with Nick and Judy, had contributed a guess at how it happened, but that was quickly shot down.

"Okay, okay. Just tell me: is it a good story?" asked Sanders.

A beaming smile spread across Nick's face: "Tony, it is just _GRRRR-EAT!_ "

Everyone in the car let out a loud groan. "How long have you been waiting to use that one, Nick?" asked Sanders.

"Since the very day I met you, Furrrosted Flakes." Nick responded.

The gigantic police cruiser parked in front of the Precinct One building, and McHorn and Sanders both got out. Sanders opened one door and carried out Weaselton, who still had his wrists and ankles ziptied together. McHorn opened the other door, helped Nick and Judy climb out, and they all went inside (unable to walk, Weaselton merely waddled along like a tiny penguin). Fortunately, there were no other cops in the reception hall; everyone else had to be either out on patrol or in the bullpen awaiting assignments from Chief Bogo. The only officer present was Clawhauser, sitting at the front desk and gorging on a breakfast of twelve doughnuts and a bowl of Lucky Chomps per his usual morning routine. He looked up as he heard the group enter and walk towards his desk, and then his pudgy face lit up upon seeing his favorite fox and bunny duo:

"*Burp* Nick! Judy! Hey, how'd it go? Did you catch the guy? I hope the backup got there in- _WOAH…_ "

His brown eyes widened as he noticed the rumpled state of Nick and Judy's clothing, along with the set of pawcuffs still binding them together. Behind them and beside them, McHorn, Sanders and even Weaselton all had amused expressions on their faces.

"Uhh, not to be nosy or anything, but, uh, you know, why are you guys pawcuffed together?" The cheetah stuffed another doughnut into his mouth as he asked this.

Judy sighed. "Well, to answer your first question, yes it went fine; second, we caught the guy, here he is," she gestured to Weaselton, "And yes, McHorn and Sanders did arrive quickly, although we also lost them for a while, and to answer your final question, last night Nick ticked me off so I cuffed him to me as a joke, and then I accidentally lost the key. Ha ha, funny story, I know."

Clawhauser blinked as he took this in, and then swallowed. "Well I guess – but doesn't Nick have a key?"

"He _should_ …" Judy glared at Nick, who put on an innocent face, "But apparently he left it in his other pair of pants."

Now that made Clawhauser laugh, along with Weaselton and the other cops in the vicinity; they hadn't heard that detail before.

"Hehe, now that is funny, Judy. Seriously, what are the odds of you both losing your keys?"

"Oh, pretty slim I'm sure," Judy responded, "Now Clawhauser, if it's alright with you, we would really, REALLY appreciate it if Chief Bogo doesn't find out about this."

Clawhauser held up his sticky right paw and crossed his heart with his left, getting doughnut glaze on his uniform: "If the chief hears about his, it won't be from me."

Behind Nick and Judy, McHorn and Sanders performed the same gesture. The bunny nodded in appreciation. "Thanks guys. Now if you'll excuse us, Clawhauser, we'd like to go get these cuffs off, and then we've got a weasel to process, in that order."

Suddenly, Judy heard a car door slam outside. Clawhauser's eyes bulged.

"Woah! It's the chief! The chief's here!"

Nick and Judy whipped around: there in the parking lot, striding towards the doors of the precinct was unmistakeably Chief Bogo, wearing his glasses and carrying a stack of case files under his arm.

"Oh NO, he can't see us like this, Nick!" Judy cried, "Quick, we've got to hide!"

"No time, he's just spotted you guys!" Clawhauser hissed. Through the door, Bogo could be seen giving a recognizing look and changing course right in their direction. McHorn quickly stepped in front of Nick and Judy, temporarily blocking them from the cape buffalo's view.

Judy gripped Nick's arm so tight it hurt. "What do we do, Nick? WHAT DO WE DO?"

And then Nick did something Judy absolutely did not expect: without a word he reached into his pocket, pulled out a silver pawcuff key and quickly unlocked both of their cuffs with a quiet _chink_. Every pair of eyes around turned to see what had happened, and everyone's jaws dropped.

Nick quickly stashed the cuffs in his pocket, straightened his shirt (which sprang right back into its wrinkled state), and tightened the knot in his tie just in time before Bogo entered through the revolving door of the building.

"Hopps. Wilde," the Chief greeted nonchalantly, "What a surprise to see you here today."

"Hey, Chief! Well, you know, crime never sleeps," Nick offered, "And here – we've caught the car thief you've been looking for!" He gripped Weaselton by the arm and presented him to Bogo, who remained unimpressed as usual.

"I see," muttered Bogo, noting the zipties binding Duke's wrists and ankles together, "Certainly an unusual method of restrainment you've used, but I'm sure you had a reason for using those zipties instead of your pawcuffs."

Nick's eyes widened for just a second, but he quickly slipped back into his trademark smirk. "Well, he is a sneaky one, Chief. Officer Hopps and I had to chase him over practically half of Savannah Central, and if it weren't for that blind alley we would have lost him for sure."

Bogo glanced towards Judy, who quickly nodded in agreement at the story. He then gave the pair a curious look, scanning them up and down as if scrutinizing them. And then he said:

"Hmm, well, a good job then. Now, I would ask why you two decided to make an arrest on your day off, at 7:30 in the morning after working a night patrol, having not checked in or returned your patrol vehicle last night and looking like you've both slept in your clothes…"

Judy gulped: they had left their unmarked patrol car back at the locksmith shop.

"…But I really don't care. I'll see you both in on Monday morning. Good day."

And with that, he left the group and marched off in the direction of his office. Judy blinked, and then turned to Nick:

"Nick… how long have you had that pawcuff key?"

Nick gulped. Clearly he hadn't planned on explaining this. "Well, you see - I, uh…" he fumbled with his words, "I… I kinda found it on the floor of our car this morning. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went to get the coffee."

There was a sharp intake of breath from everyone else present as the fox said this, and then comprehension dawned across his face:

"Yeah, I remember getting my wallet out of my pocket as I got out of the car! My key must have been in there with it!"

Judy digested this, and when she responded the rest of the group held on to every word she said:

"And you didn't think to mention that before BECAUSE…?"

Nick started. "Well, you see, I did, but then you were all scary-angry after what we'd just been through and I didn't want to set you off, so I thought it might just be better to, you know, keep quiet and let the locksmith take the cuffs off."

Judy blinked. "So you just let us go to the locksmith like that?"

"I was going to foot the bill."

"And WHILE WE WERE CHASING WEASELTON!?"

"I tried to tell you! Don't you remember me saying 'Carrots, wait!' over and over again? By the time we finally caught him McHorn and Sanders and lots of others had already seen us so I figured the damage was done! And technically, after we did catch Duke you were the one who insisted we go back to the station instead of getting the cuffs off first, so this part is really kind of your fault."

Judy's purple eyes bulged, and then she doubled over, the inside of her ears turning red from embarrassment. She clutched her face with her paws and let out an audible moan into them as the gravity of the situation sank in. Nick put a paw on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Carrots? Carrots, I'm sorry. Carrots…?"

Judy shook off his paw, and then moaned a couple times more before she straightened up and looked into his face again:

"And… if you had found the key last night?"

"Oh, then I would have unlocked us right then and there, definitely. I am a cop, after all."

Judy said nothing to that.

"But seriously though, I don't know how to pick a lock. Although Finnick might know, now that I think of it…"

Judy simply stood there, completely expressionless except for the fact that her eyes were still wide, her ears were fully erect and the blush still hadn't completely faded from her face. But then her eyes narrowed, and she spoke in a low but disturbingly calm voice:

"Nick… I am going to count to ten."

Nick started backing away, and even Clawhauser, McHorn and Sanders instinctively stepped back a little. "Errr… what for, Carrots?"

"Well, as you very _astutely_ pointed out last night, the floor in my apartment lacks a rug. So I think I'll make one… From the fur of a _fox's butt_."

"Nick paled under his fur, his paws unconsciously covering his rear end. "C-Carrots, you're _not serious…_ "

"One…"

"Okay, maybe you are a little serious, but look at it from my point of view! You see, I was going to tell you when I found the key in the car…"

"Two…"

"…but then I figured you might not be so understanding if I produced the key right after what we'd just been through; and yes, I am aware of the irony…"

" _Three…_ "

"…But look at it this way! if I had just unlocked us then we never would have been at Marmotini's and we never would have caught Duke and we'd still be doing all those boring evening patrols and now you can get a good night's sleep again…"

" _NINE_ …"

"Okay, maybe I should just go…" Nick turned and dashed out the revolving door.

"TEN!"

With a roar that no one would have guessed could come from a bunny Judy took off after the fox. Clawhauser and the other officers watched in awe as out in the street Nick looked behind himself, panicked, and shifted down to all fours in his attempt to outrun the furry furioso that was Judy. And to further everyone's amusement she in turn did the same, bounding after the fox on all fours as if she were the predator and he was the prey. The two officers turned around a corner in the distance and were soon out of sight.

There was a hushed silence in the room. None of the officers moved. They just stood there, blinking in shock at what they had just witnessed. And then:

"Huh, those two really got a thing goin' on, don't they?"

All the cops in the room whipped around at those words: in the heat of the moment they had forgotten Weaselton was still there with them. The weasel continued:

"I mean, back when Flopsy found out about the Night Howlers, did you ever wonder why she went crying to Wilde instead of you guys? And Wilde – a year ago he's just another confox and now he's a cop working with her? And c'mon, you really buy that he didn't unlock them when he coulda just because she got a little huffy? Na-ah, he likes her, and she likes him. I guarantee it!"

"Ohh, somehow I don't think she likes him very much at the moment," Clawhauser noted.

"Ahh, they'll be kissing and makin' up by the end of the day!" Weaselton countered.

McHorn gestured to Sanders: "Get him to lock-up; we'll just have to get statements from Hopps and Wilde later." The rhino then turned and started heading in the direction of the break room.

"Hehe, if they ever find Nick's remains that is." replied Sanders. He bent down, cut the ziptie off Weaselton's ankles with one of his claws, and then started walking the weasel down to the holding cells. Weaselton called out to Clawhauser:

"Hey, ya wanna make a bet, Spotty?! Fifty bucks says Wilde says it first!"

"Sorry pal, no can do!" Clawhauser called back.

"Twenty bucks! Ten? A box of doughnuts? C'mon, make me an offer!"

"Sorry!" Clawhauser repeated.

After ascertaining they were gone, the portly cheetah quickly glanced side-to-side, and discreetly reached into the bottom drawer in his desk, pulling out a notebook with a picture of Gazelle on the front. He opened it to the first page: on it were a list of names and zoodollar amounts, divided by several columns. And at the top the title read _WildeHopps Betting Pool._ Clawhauser erased the number beside his name and added an extra twenty bucks to it.

"It's for officers only."

* * *

 **Okay, for you new readers, the reason the caption reads modified is that in the original version of this story Nick found the key back in chapter 1. But a few readers pointed out that withholding the key for that long was really kind of a rotten thing for Nick to do (especially with the events of chapter 3), and I agreed so I decided to change it a little. For you readers who liked the old version, I appreciate your comments! Chapters 1 and 3 are modified a little now too, but nothing major.**

 **Next up – bonus chapter! And after that – one more!**


	7. Bonus Chapter (but not the last)

**Sorry for the long wait, folks! But as requested, here is the bonus scene from chapter 3! First off, I'd like to thank Matri, PizzaSteve3902, Hawktooth, Omnitrix 12, DrumerMax64, ebolson, Aninat131, MrsPanda, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, Padawan A. Kenobi, Saforite154 and Ayuma-chan for their reviews of chapter six! And also, I would like to wish a very happy birthday to DrummerMax64! A great guy, and a whiz at coming up with Zootopian band names and musicians. He really knows his music.**

 **For those who haven't read the modified version of chapter 6, I encourage you to check that one first because otherwise some parts at the end of this one might be confusing. Anyway, because it's been so long I'll start you off with a recap: after a night spent in Judy's apartment due to the two of them being pawcuffed together, the coffee Nick was foolish enough to drink the night before came back to bite him big-time as the morning call of nature set in. But just as they were about to make their way to the bathroom Judy's parents happened to call, and a practically-bursting Nick was forced to endure listening to Judy and her mother talking about things like Bunnagara Falls and a broken pitcher of apple juice before Judy could finally hang up. Here is what happened after:**

* * *

"Love you too Mom, okayseeyoulaterbye!" Judy quickly hung up, and slumped in her chair in relief.

"Ohhh, bless little Billy…WOAH!"

Without a hint of warning Judy found herself in the air as Nick scooped her up, slammed open the door and zoomed down the hall to the communal bathrooms, tearing into the males' room like a raging bull. There were six adjoining stalls in the bathroom, with toilets ranging from rodent-sized to hippo-sized. The door creaked shut behind them as he raced towards the one that was fox-to-rabbit sized. No sooner had he reached it when he practically dropped Judy and started struggling to undo the button on his pants.

"Sorry Carrots, but you might want to turn your head!"

"Just wait a sec-AAH!" Judy screamed and turned away as Nick finally undid his button and pulled down his zipper without a second of hesitation. She ducked her head into the stall next to them and covered her ears with her free arm, but that didn't stop her from hearing a loud moan of relief coming from Nick as he began to relieve his overloaded bladder. For a few seconds she did nothing, just stood there stiff as stone and not daring to move her cuffed paw so much as a twitch, before the initial shock wore off and a growing sensation in her own nether regions started reminding her that she had to pee too. Finally, she heard a muffled flushing noise. Nick tapped her on the shoulder:

"Okay, Carrots, you can look now; I'm done."

Judy looked back at Nick to see him clumsily doing up his pants zipper with one paw.

" _Whew_ , that was close! Sorry to give you that fright before but, you know, it _was_ an emergency."

"It sure was," Judy agreed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go too."

"Wait, don't you want to move to the female's room first?"

"No good – my landlady is an early riser, and she uses the same bathroom. Besides, I can't wait that long."

"Wait – your _landlady_ uses the same bathroom as you and other tenants?"

"She saves money by keeping her own apartment here."

This still sounded strange to Nick, but then most everything else about this building was strange so he just shrugged. "Okay, but what if someone comes in here?"

"Nick, if getting cuffed to you and losing the key wasn't bad enough, I just came _this_ close to seeing what makes you a male fox. Believe me, I am past embarrassment by now. Besides, I'll hear if anyone's coming. Bunny ears, remember?"

"Okay. _Sooo_ … how are we going to do this?"

"I have that figured out. I'll sit down, like this…" Judy put down the toilet seat and sat herself down on it, "And I hold out my cuffed paw, like this, and we close the stall door on the chain." She went through the motions, but quickly discovered her arm wasn't long enough for that to work; part of Nick's own arm had to be in the stall with her. After quickly promising that he wouldn't peek Nick gently closed the door on his arm and turned his head and body as far the other way as he could. He heard Judy pull down her furtight pants and felt a slight tugging from her cuffed paw as she sat down, but then heard nothing for a few moments except an uncomfortable silence. He started doing a casual little whistle to ease the tension, but after a minute of still nothing he broke the silence:

"Case of bladder shyness there, Carrots?"

"Ummm… kinda," Judy replied from behind the door.

"Okay, try this: close your eyes, cover your ears, and think about Bunnagara Falls."

"But what if somebody comes in?"

"I have good ears too; I'll keep a listen-out, and if I hear anything I'll give you two tugs."

"Okay, I'll trust you not to look."

Nick heard nothing more for a few seconds, but then he picked up humming from inside the stall, followed by the unmistakeable trickling sound of a bunny doing her business. Nick sighed in relief. They had shared some awkward moments before and since becoming friends (the Mystic Springs incident came to mind) but this whole pawcuff fiasco really took the cake. He then remembered he was supposed to be listening for anyone coming and perked up his ears in attention, but there was a certain feature of Judy's apartment building that he was unaware of: the only rooms with any degree of noise insulation were the bathrooms. Judy was just finishing up her business when it happened:

BAM! A sudden banging noise behind Nick made the fox jump as Judy's neighbors burst into the bathroom, the oryx and the kudu dressed in matching bathrobes and hollering at each other like usual.

"Didja have to stay up and listen to Bunny-cop all night? Now we're gonna be late for Nangi's yoga class!"

"I said I was sorry! What do I have to-"

And then they both noticed the scene in front of them and suddenly stopped. And for good reason: when Nick had jumped he had also accidentally bumped the stall door with his elbow – making the door swing open and expose Judy to the room. The rabbit's eyes bulged, and she locked eyes with her obtrusive neighbors. For over a second, nobody said anything; they all just stood there (and in Judy's case, sat), blankly staring at each other. And then:

" _AAAHH!"_

Judy screamed and slammed the door shut – on Nick's arm. The door swung back open from the impact, and then closed again as Nick instinctively grabbed his arm in pain.

"OWW! Carrots-"

"W-WOAH! _Oof!"_

By grabbing his arm Nick had yanked on Judy's cuffed paw, making her tumble off the toilet onto the floor and pull Nick's arm down with her. _"Oww…"_

Nick instinctively tried to check on her, "Carrots, are you alri-"

 _BONK!_

He had accidentally swung the stall door against Judy's forehead. Without thinking Nick peered in, and saw the rabbit flat on her face on the bathroom floor in front of him, little birds tweeting around her head and her fluffy grey tail and rear exposed to him for a split second before he slammed the door in an embarrassed panic, accidentally hitting his cuffed paw before pulling it out.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Bucky and Pronk, who had just watched this scene play out with stunned looks on their faces, quickly retreated into two bathroom stalls at the end of the line.

"Don't mind us, bunny-cop! We're not here! We don't even wanna know why you and your boyfriend are cuffed together!"

"Actually, I really wanna know! What happened!?"

" _Shhh, quiet! We're not here!"_

"OH SHUT IT!"

"YOU SHUT UP!"

Nick snarled, "Both of you, SHUT UP!"

No answer. Nick was startled by how effective that was. He turned back to the stall door in front of him:

"Umm, Carrots? You can come out now. They're not here."

No answer.

"Carrots? You can come out now."

" _Go away…"_ came a groan from behind the door.

Nick let out a nervous little chuckle, and tugged on his cuffed paw: "I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but that's not exactly an option right now."

Nick had to stifle a smirk as the mortified bunny stumbled out, her ears drooping and her eyes completely avoiding his; _so much for being past embarrassment by now_ he thought. After stopping to apply some paw sanitizer from the dispenser on the wall the two lurched out of the bathroom back to Judy's apartment, Bucky and Pronk innocently whistling in their stalls as they left. But the moment they re-entered Judy's apartment and shut the door, the rabbit suddenly turned on Nick in a fury.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!"

" _Uhh…"_

"You said you would listen out for them! _You_ said, you would give me two tugs! And what do you do? You just _let_ them in!"

" _Err_ …"

"And then you, you – ERRGH!"

Nick instinctively tried to back as far away as possible, but that only a couple steps away to the back of the door. After a few seconds of fuming, Judy took a couple deep breaths and spoke:

"Okay, it happened, it's done, and there's nothing we can do about it. So from now on, we just NEVER mention that incident again. Agreed?"

Nick opened his mouth, but then a voice out in the hallway spoke for him: _"Agreed, Bunny-cop!"_

Judy slapped her face in exasperation, but then groaned in pain because that was the same spot where the stall door had hit her. "I gotta move," she muttered.

* * *

A few minutes later, when Judy had finally calmed down enough to leave the apartment (although she still looked a little shell-shocked), the pair finally exited the building and got into their car, and Judy started looking up potential locksmiths. After a brief tête-à-tête to assure things were still cool between them Nick let a yawn, stretched and bent down to scratch his ankle, and then suddenly his eyes widened, and his ears shot straight up: he felt something small and made of metal under his fingers – _his pawcuff key!_ "Umm, Carrots…"

" _OH, FOR_ … Nick, we vowed never to mention that incident again, so we're not talking about it!" Judy snapped. Nick jerked back in shock; were all bunnies this scary when they were tense? Maybe it wouldn't be so wise to mention the key after what they had just gone through; if he produced it now she'd never believe he had just happened to find it. He spoke up:

"Um, technically you vowed, I just stood there in silence."

"Well, then I would really, _very_ much appreciate it if you would keep up said silence for a while."

"Fine, as you wish…"

 _Yep, definitely best to just let the locksmith take care of this,_ Nick thought while discreetly pocketing the key.

* * *

 **You may have noticed, this story is not labelled complete. And for good reason: there is one more chapter on the way! I know, I know I said I would end this story with this bonus scene and that was the plan, but if there's one thing I've learned from writing this fic, it's that you can't plan it all from the beginning, some changes along the way are inevitable. But, I think you'll like some of the things I have planned for the epilogue, so stay tuned!**


	8. Epilogue

**Here it is, the final chapter of the Pawcuffs! Before I begin, I would like to wish all my readers a very happy (and early) Easter! And of course, I would also like to thank PizzaSteve3902, janetfox, Master Fearless Shadow, Omnitrix 12, DrummerMax64, Aninat131 (congratulations on finishing your exams), Cimar of Turalis-WildeHopps and TheAssassin2 for their reviews of the bonus chapter! And now, without further ado…**

* * *

 _"Carrots! Carrots, WAIT! HELP! MAD BUNNY!"_

Some twelve hours following the incident at the precinct, Judy was lying on her bed in her apartment watching a certain video on ZooTube. It depicted a fox in a police uniform, scurrying on all fours along Acacia Avenue while being pursued by a bunny in uniform also running on all fours. The camera was too far away for their faces to be visible, but it still didn't take a genius to deduce who the aforementioned fox and bunny were. Judy was obviously humiliated and also shocked to see how scary she looked when she was angry, but she was also glad the video ended before she had finally caught up with Nick, for what she had done with him afterwards was NOT something she wanted shown to the world. She hadn't seen the fox since then; after their confrontation she had left, retrieved their car from the front of Marmotini's shop, returned to the station, given her statement against Weaselton, and gone home without speaking to anyone. Bucky and Pronk had been polite enough not to mention if they'd seen the video or not, but Judy had a sneaking suspicion they had. At the moment, her neighbors were just arguing as usual over whose turn it was to microwave dinner. But that didn't bother Judy; she had long since learned to tune it out.

Suddenly, she heard a soft knocking at her door. The rabbit got up, stood on her tiptoes and looked through the peephole: there was a strange elephant standing there. Judy stepped down, and then did a double take: elephants weren't four feet tall. Nor did they have red fur around their eyes. She unlocked the door, swung it open, and her jaw dropped. _"Nick?"_

Nick stood there, dressed head to toe in what was clearly a modified version of the grey elephant costume Finnick had had worn as part of their old father-son scam, up to and including giant purple ears, a pink heart on the front and a plush trunk. Only his eyes and the fur around them were visible, and they were as wide and weepy as Judy had ever seen them. The costumed fox gave no answer to her question, but simply nodded once and let out a pitiful little toot through the trunk of his costume. Judy then noticed a handwritten sign Nick was holding in front of himself, which was partially covered by the trunk. She lifted it up and read what it said: DUMB FOX.

She crossed her arms and assumed a scowling expression at the ele-fox in front of her: "Alright, what is this?"

Nick still said nothing, but turned around the sign he was holding to reveal more writing on the back: I'M SORRY. Judy immediately understood.

"Oh, I get it: you're sorry you didn't tell me you had a pawcuff key and now you're wearing this costume as some gesture of penitence. Am I right?"

Nick just nodded, keeping his pleading eyes locked with hers without so much as blinking.

"Well, come in then."

Judy stepped aside and Nick walked in, waddling slightly due to the booty-like feet on his costume. He came to a stop beside her bed, holding up his DUMB FOX sign prominently and clearly trying to make himself look as pitiable as possible. Judy was actually touched he would go so far to beg her forgiveness, but did nothing to let him see that. She gestured at her bed:

"Won't you sit down?"

Nick shook his head, and reached behind himself and lightly rubbed one of his paws on his backside, whimpering slightly.

"Oh yeah, forgot." Judy muttered with a hint of guilt in her voice. She stood there scrutinizing Nick for a few more seconds, before pulling out her phone and showing him the video on the screen: "We made ZooTube, did you see?"

Nick nodded timidly.

"And you're aware we'll going to have quite a time living this down, especially at the station, right?"

Nick nodded again, never breaking eye contact with her.

"And you're aware that all of this could have been avoided if you had just produced that pawcuff key when you found it?"

Nick let out another little toot-toot, and held up his sign a little higher. Judy lowered her phone and started tapping on the screen.

"Well, I suppose I can forgive you… on one condition."

Nick's eyes lit up in hope.

"That you let me a get a picture of this first."

And before Nick could protest Judy held up her phone, snapped a picture, and dropped the act with a hearty laugh.

"Ha ha HA! Don't worry Nick, I forgave you hours ago!"

Any anger Nick might have had at getting his picture taken evaporated immediately, and he lowered the hood and trunk on his costume to reveal his full face. "Really?"

Judy nodded in amusement. "Aww, you know I can't stay mad at you, you dumb fox!" She strutted over to Nick and gave him a quick hug. "Besides, I've had some time to think it over, and it's really me who should be doing the apologizing here."

Nick sat down on the bed, winced in pain for a second, and then laid on his side before looking up at her with a look of relief on his face: "Oh? Do tell."

Judy sighed, and bowed her head in shame. "I was the one who cuffed us together in the first place, and I was the one who insisted we go to the station instead of going back to Marmotini's. And, most importantly, I didn't listen to you. At least twice you tried to tell me you had a key, and both times I just shut you out without thinking. As your partner, I'm supposed to always listen to you. So, I'm sorry."

Nick's face brightened greatly, and a huge grin spread across his features. "So you're admitting that everything from the bathroom incident to the ZooTube fiasco was really all your fault?"

"Yes, but don't push it."

Nick nodded. "Wish you'd told me that _before_ I got Finnick to make this costume for me."

Judy started. "Excuse me?"

"Well, they don't exactly sell onesies like this in my size, so I went to Finnick and asked him to make me an elephant suit just like the old one. He was, to say the least, delighted."

Judy was surprised to learn that. "I never would have guessed Finnick could sew."

"Oh yeah, that little guy's got a lot more talents than just muttering threats and hustling naïve bunnies. By the way, if you ever lose that picture of me in this costume, he's got plenty."

"Well, I'm sorry you went to all that trouble for nothing," Judy said.

"And I'm sorry I didn't tell you I had a key," Nick replied.

"And I'm sorry I chased you through the streets like some savage and we got caught on video…"

"FYI, you were officially scarier than any predator I have ever met, and that includes Manchas."

"And I'm especially sorry that I got you to stop by grabbing your tail."

Nick rubbed his hindquarters tenderly. "That's okay. Although when I got back to the station to testify against Duke they did give me some funny looks when I wouldn't sit down; I think they believe you actually did shave my butt."

Judy snickered at that. "And those things I said after I caught you, I didn't mean them…" Nick waved her off.

"Naw, I deserved that tongue-lashing. It was actually kind of funny, hearing you spout out a lecture about communication and police integrity while using all those _colorful_ choice words. If being the first bunny-cop doesn't work out you should consider becoming the first bunny-sailor."

"I'm just glad that wasn't in the video; if my parents saw me swearing like that out in public they would ground me for a month."

"Um… you're not exactly ten years old, Carrots."

"You don't know my parents when it comes to language: one of my brothers once said a bad word at the dinner table and they literally washed his mouth out with soap."

"You're kidding."

"He spent the rest of the evening entertaining us by burping bubbles."

Nick chuckled at that mental image, and then things fell silent between them. A little too silent, he noticed. " _Sooo_ … your neighbors seem remarkably quiet tonight."

"Hmm? Hey, you're right," Judy muttered, noticing her neighbors had indeed gone quiet. Raising a finger to her lips at Nick she slowly bent down, reached into a drawer and pulled out a metal canister with a funny nozzle attached to it. "I guess they've finished dinner by now and are just reading quietly or something for once…" She pressed the nozzle against the wall over her bed and covered one of her ears, "…I mean, what else have they got to do on a Saturday night, right?" She pressed a button:

 _FOOOOOM!_

The airhorn went off with a loud blast and a pair of shrieks were heard from the other side of the wall. Nick and Judy both doubled over with laughter as they heard crashing and banging noises next, as if her eavesdropping neighbors had jumped back so fast they fell over their furniture. Judy gathered herself and yelled at the wall:

"Alright you guys, from now on, if I so much as _think_ you're listening in, this wall gets the horn! Capiche?"

A muffled grumble came from Bucky and Pronk's apartment: "Capiche, Bunny-cop." Nick and Judy then heard some disgruntled muttering behind the wall:

 _"This is SO going in the blog!"_

 _"Maybe we oughta call the police, get her arrested for disturbing the peace."_

 _"You moron, she IS the police!"_

Nick and Judy both laughed again at that, and then Judy gestured at Nick's costume:

"Is this going to be a regular thing with us from now on? Every time one of us crosses the other, we have to wear this…costume of shame?"

Nick shrugged. "As good a use for it as any I guess."

Judy nodded in agreement. "You know you love me…?" she asked.

Nick smiled. "Do I know that you are one emotional bunny? Yes, yes I do."

" _Ohh…_ "

Judy strode over to Nick and hugged him again, and this time the fox returned it. They just stood like that for a minute, Judy soaking in the softness of the costume of shame that made Nick feel like a giant plushie. She let out a little giggle as something occurred to her:

"Heh, guess this means I get to call _you_ Officer Toot-Toot now."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "After that little airhorn stunt, I think the title is still yours."

* * *

 **If anyone else would like to use the costume of shame in a story, feel free. Thanks for reading everybody – I've enjoyed your reviews and feedback immensely! Will I make another story you ask? Yes, I think I will – I've got more ideas.**

 **For those who were curious about the references I made in chapter 5, here is a list: Tony Sanders is named for Tony Jay and George Sanders, two actors who have voiced Shere Khan. "Bedfurd and Bearis" is Brian Bedford and Phil Harris, who voiced the main characters in Disney's Robin Hood. For books, "Mr. Templeton" is named after a rat in Charlotte's Web and "Wormwood Motors" is from the Roald Dahl book Matilda. As for movie references, "The Third Mammal" is the Third Man, "The Sheepshank Redemption" is the Shawshank Redemption, "Connie Clawleone" is named after Connie Corleone from the Godfather, and "Lions and tigers and bears" is a line from the Wizard of Oz.**

 **P.S. There's also a nod in this chapter to a certain comic by EWS/Diavololo on Deviantart, see if you can find it.**

 **For those who are subscribed to this story but not me the writer, my next story "Movie Night" is out! See my profile for the link.**


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